Würzburg

This is a picture of me. Castle on the right, city on the left.

14March 2009

On a whim, I hopped a train to Würzburg, a small city between Nürnberg and Frankfurt. I chose it simply because it was the biggest dot on the map in the area I haven’t checked off in my travel atlas but it turned out to be quite a pleasant trip. Although the city is quite small, there are two rather large royal attractions, a big castle on a hill (Marienberg) and a princely residence in town (Würzburg Residence). I left the train station and followed the crowds down the typical Euro-shopping street until I arrived a a deceptively large cathedral. The front door seemed small because the front façade was kind of built into the surrounding buildings but the interior was fantastic and there was a neat crypt too.


The Residence was a neat place to visit. It was made a few hundred years ago but renovated after it was blown up 50 years ago. My shoes on those wooden floors alerted everyone in the mansion to my position and walking speed. My favorite floor had a cool outward-radiating angular pattern constructed from several types of wood. There was a nice garden out back but it was cold and all of the colorful plants were probably dead.


I walked through that little arch and up to the left to get to the castle path.

The castle on the hill was perhaps the most castle-likecastle I’ve visited. It is reached by walking on a winding path that climbs through outer walls and wine fields to the main entry way a hundred meters above river that runs through the city. The main entry way is a massive tunnel through a 20m thick wall with holes on top so they could pour boiling oil on the visitors that were not invited. The castle had a big moat, and an inner wall that blocked off the main rooms and a tower. The tower had no stairs, just a dumb-waiter type thing and a floor at the tip top (much like fairy tale towers).

The inner rooms had art and artifacts from the castle-days which were all very nice but I mostly enjoyed walking around the castle, the architecture and the view.

I had a sandwich and left the city. I’d recommend it for a day or afternoon.


Neat city church.


Bridge.


No vertical bowling allowed at the castle.


This is a picture of me in a castle. The other side of the wall is a moat, presumably where they kept moat monsters.


Rapunzel, Rapunzel? She was not in.

This last one is me standing on the path to the casle, with Würzburg down below.